General Discussion Introduce Yourself!!! » newb from Ottawa Rss Feed  
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2014-08-03 10:02 AM

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Ottawa, Ontario
Subject: newb from Ottawa
I've been lurking here for about a month and have learned lots of useful stuff in preparation for my first Tri event (yesterday - a sprint swimcycle)

I actually got into this after a knee injury this spring - I've been jogging for a couple of years now and have always hated it. First time out jogging after the snow melted this year and my knee was killing me for a few days, so I decided "enough of this, I'm getting a road bike". I used to mountain bike a lot in my teens and early 20s, but I'm pretty far away from any good trails so have not been doing it lately (also my mountain bike currently has a baby seat on the back). Lots of nice flat roads around here so the road bike worked out great - I enjoyed it a lot more than I even enjoyed running and no pain.

I got to setting various goals (ex: doing 30 km in under an hour) and it felt great to achieve them. I started looking into opportunities to compete in order to give me another type of goal/motivation. Doing big group ride centuries doesn't really appeal to me, and the local TT events are way too intimidating at this point. Basically I ride alone, for 20-40km at a time - and I found the event that closest matches that framework was the bike section of triathlon (sprint or Oly). I used to to be a good swimmer (was a lifeguard in high school) and the local series offers SwimCycle events, so I could do it without getting back to running.

Fast forward to yesterday's event - I had a lot of fun and felt good about it. I was least confident in my swim (no "real" swimming in over 17 years) but got some practices in and got better every time. I figured I'd survive the swim and be competitive on the bike (I saw times from other events and figured I'd perform well).

Turns out the swim was my better leg - I felt great after the swim (I've found once I get a good steady rhythm I feel like I can swim indefinitely) and placed 7th out of 15 in my age group. I felt good about the bike leg too, but ended up 13th on that leg - turns out the times include T2, so the times I had looked at were off a little.

The problem now is I'm really tempted to get back into running so I can do a real triathlon. On the other hand I'd like to increase my distance in SwimCycle. I can get one more event in this season (labour day weekend) so I'm debating whether to do an Olympic SwimCycle or a full Sprint Tri. I figure I can attempt to get running again with the goal of doing the Sprint Tri, and if it doesn't work out I'll do the Olympic (they don't offer the SwimCycle here, so I'd skip the run section and DNF). I think my first step though is to get some better shoes - I'd been running on 6 year old cross trainers.


2014-08-05 2:53 PM
in reply to: SenatorClayDavis

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lake forest, California
Subject: RE: newb from Ottawa

Congrats on your race! Tri's do become addicting as you gain fitness and can see the results. You'll be surprised at fitness gained for running as well as soon as you get back out there. First off i'd definitely recommend a good pair of running shoes. Getting fit properly in running shoes will help with pain, but also try adding in walking sessions during your runs. They shouldn't be so painful- and believe it or not adding the walking can help increase distance which adds more fitness. Best of luck and welcome to BT

2014-08-06 3:58 PM
in reply to: jbjboc

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360
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Ottawa, Ontario
Subject: RE: newb from Ottawa
Employing the resources on this site I've been focusing on running related stretches and exercises, got myself some new running shoes, and today went for my first run in a few months - adding in walking time before and after. Felt great, no pain, so I feel pretty good about working my way up the full Tri at the end of the month.
2014-08-09 10:47 AM
in reply to: SenatorClayDavis

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lake forest, California
Subject: RE: newb from Ottawa

Enjoy the jouney and be consistent to reach your goals

2014-08-09 7:07 PM
in reply to: jbjboc

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Nova Scotia, Canada
Subject: RE: newb from Ottawa
Your story sounds a lot like mine. I used to run just try and keep in shape but I had no idea what I was doing. Ran to hard too often and ended up repeatedly getting injured. Picked up Tri as a way to stay in shape with out doing to much damage to me knee. Fast forward two years and I've now done two HM's and just did my first HIM. I'm just now starting to add some speed back into my running. But that's after two years of building a base with what I learned on this site. Enjoy the journey and take it slow. I know I've had time where I push too hard and ended up getting minor injuries that have set me back a few weeks. The key is stoping and treating the injury as soon as it starts. Ottawa is a great place to live and work I wish I was still there.
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